"New for 2007" announcement

Our announcement for next year's stuff (we've already revealed Holiday World and Splashin' Safari will each receive something new) will be on Wednesday, September 6, 2006.

Bringing home the gold

A longer list of musings will follow in a few days.

For now, here's WFIE's report, which includes video, plus this article from the Evansville Courier & Press.

Again with the "quirky"!

Becky and family visited our area a month or so ago after landing a plum assignment with the New York Daily News.

She calls us quirky.

Quirky.

Who am I to argue with yet another East Coast publication?

Becky doesn't seem to like our mascot's name ("unfortunately named mascot, Holidog").

Good thing I didn't tell her about our blog.

Rolling out the red carpet

Only two more days.



Mr. Lincoln looks like he can barely contain his excitement, don't you think?

And the real estate agents are showing their support.



These awards have unlocked incredible community spirit.



And, oh yeah...



Inside the park, too...



Here we are at the theater...



Joan Rivers just called ... she's got some gig in Hollywood Sunday, so you can have her seat.

Tubular, baby!

Charlotte was kind (and, rightly so, proud) enough to send us these photos of Abbey...



and Eli.

Snakes on the brain

Been wrestling all season about whether to share this story.

Snakes, after all, cause many people to get the vapors. And here I am, fresh out of smelling salts.

But in light of the movie that's getting so much attention these days, it's time to unleash.

Back in late April, before The Voyage opened to the public, we held a photo shoot of the new coaster in action.

I hung out with the photographers, partially as an escort but also to pick up any tips about the best place to stand for photographing The Voyage.

The bottom of the second drop is a really good spot. You can get close enough to it that the train full of screaming riders is in the foreground and you can also show the enormity of the coaster with the first drop in the background.

Sounded good to me. When the photographers moved on to their next angle, it seemed silly not to snap off a few of my own.

Although The Voyage is basically out in the dense woods, there's a nice little access road just to the west of the structure. An occasional butterfly will flutter by, but that's about it as far as wildlife encounters.

Feeling safe, I assumed the standard photo-taking position. I could hear the train click-clicking up the lifthill. Standing perfectly still and holding my breath, I was ready for that train to soar down the first hill, sail up the second, and I would take that perfect photo just as it filled the frame.

But it was not meant to be.

As the train was still heading up the lifthill, I felt the bottom of my left pant leg shift slightly.

Hmmm.

A little low-ground breeze, perhaps?

Stalwart and determined, I continued to squint through the viewfinder.

Seconds later, another sensation at the bottom of my slacks.

Must be standing near a rogue clump of grass growing up through the gravel road. Yes, that must be it.

The train was just about to crest the lifthill. No time to check out the weeds.

But then...

My ankle started going numb.

At that point, it was time to check out the woman-eating plant.

But it wasn't a plant.

Looked like a long, bright-green shoelace, actually.

How in the world did a shoelace make it all the way out here? Doesn't look like something one of the construction guys would have worn.

And even Lord Chadwick doesn't get that carried away in his dress.

But it wasn't a shoelace.

Shoelaces, after all, don't have little hissing tongues. Not even the bright green ones.

Snake?

SNAKE!

A snake, wrapped snuggly around my left ankle. With enough snake left over to extend another 15 inches or so, doing a poor imitation of a discarded shoelace.

So, I did the snake dance.

Frantically shook my foot and leg so that Sir Snake would come loose and slither off, never to be seen again.

The snake would have none of it. Must have been enjoying the ride. And the slight hint of Bounce Ocean Breeze on my white anklet.

Time to step up the dance.

In one fluid moment, my left foot returned to the ground and my right foot stomped on the hissing end of the beast.

Get OFF!

With a mighty yank of my left foot, I managed to rip my leg free of the reptilian embrace.

Not to worry; my stomp did no harm. May have knocked a bit of sense into the serpent, actually, as he quickly slithered toward the edge of the path.

Ah, but I was quicker.

The fun was not yet over.

"Get back here you so-and-so! No one will ever believe this; I'm taking your picture!"

Like a madwoman, I chased after my tormenter and snapped the following:



Ah, but he got the last laugh.

Just before he disappeared into the woods, the fiend posed for one final shot.

It was not until I'd returned to my office and got a good look at the photos that it became apparent.

The little asp somehow knew the first letter of my last name:



Or perhaps the long and lanky fellow has a coaster design all his own?

Media splash

Budget Travel magazine has named the Top 10 Water Parks.

Does anyone use this phrase anymore?

"Put on the dog."

I seem to remember learning that from my Grandma Cassidy, an adorable leprechaun of a woman.

But I'm not sure I've heard it in the last 20 years or so.

Until yesterday, when I said it to Rich Davis and he used it in this article about the upcoming Golden Ticket Awards.

Perhaps some will now expect a Holidog appearance.

Or maybe we'll have it covered when the winners take a bow.

Wow. Close one.

We're still Santa Claus Land to some

Wow.

Whoever wrote this headline not only took a time-machine ride back to the 1960s ... they also physically moved the park to the south and west! (In that case, shouldn't it be Evansville Land?)

You may notice the article was written by Mrs. Koch's pictorial history book co-author. Poor Jane is beside herself. First her oldest heads off to college, and now this.

My absolute favorite Santa Claus Land headline was back in 1992, when the park had been Holiday World for an entire decade.

It was my first season with the park and we'd had great fun with the bungee show and rides we offered. It was located where the high-dive show used to be (and still exists). If you look around behind the high-dive seating, you can still see the footers that were put in for the bungee tower.

The plan was always to offer bungee jumping for a single season. Then back to the high-dive show.

But when, toward the season's end, a newspaper article ran about the bungee show, the big hook was that we were not going to continue it in 1994.

Never planned to.

Told you.

But it was more exciting to write about the "big decision," apparently.

The wire service picked up the story and it ran all over the place.

My budget nearly exploded as the clipping service mailed us boxes and boxes of clips.

The headlines varied wildly as those are written by someone on each paper's staff. But the one I'll never forget, for its absurdity, was:

Santa Claus Land Rids Self of Bungee Nightmare

Now that's creative writing!

In good hands

Ah, good ... Craig's on the scene.



You remember Craig, right?

Tom's there, too. Griping that the sound of the drill reminds him of going to the dentist.

Ugh. He's right.

Give us a hand!

The day we sometimes didn't think would ever come is here at last.

The Applause Hands have arrived.

And if you want to watch, the fountain is being digitalized today.

Will told us yesterday during staff meeting:

The hands have arrived and I have touched them.

Why did I immediately picture the Sistine Chapel?

Maybe the staff will sit around the fountain at lunch today ... to dine al fresco.

Unless something changes...

(...and there's certainly the possibility of that!)

...there will be something fun to watch on the webcam Tuesday morning.

The envelope please...

It may be this afternoon before I get the news release up on our website, so if you just can't wait for more specifics about this weekend's Golden Tickets Award ceremony, please look here.

That dreaded day has arrived

As much as we all let out a collective "yippee!" on the first day of non-operation, it's also a day filled with dread.

Because some folks assume we're open and show up.

(No, we don't have a talking moose at the front gate.)

We really do try to communicate our calendar. We're open daily till August 20 and then selected weekends through October 8.

It's here on our website.

It's on the "ticker" and the messages from Will and Mrs. Koch on the homepage. It's on the ticket stock, our brochure, our phone system, and wherever else it fits.

But still, assumptions are made and beach bags are packed.

Sigh!

We feel awful when this happens and explain to the stunned visitors how school went back into session locally a week ago. We managed to struggle through one last week of "daily op" with just enough folks to staff the park.

A number of years ago, on that first day we weren't open a van pulled up in front of the marketing office.

We all saw it pull in a parking spot.

"Santa Claus Land," pronounced Dee Ann.

I gave her a questioning look.

"They'll expect us to be open and they'll call us Santa Claus Land," she said sadly. (We changed our name to Holiday World in 1984.)

When the dad entered the office, he asked,

"Isn't this Santy Claus Land?"

Oh, my. Not even "Santa" ... Santy.

We explained how sorry we were, but that we were now open weekends-only.

He was a nice guy and accepted the offered brochures of some year-round attractions in the area.

We sighed in relief as the door closed. But then the dad turned around to stick his head back through the door and ask one last question:

"You still got that dancing chicken?"

The colonel and the coaster

It's been nearly a week since we hosted the "Partnership for Peace" exchange group from Slovakia.

It was fun to see that speaking different languages doesn't really get in the way of fun.

Or coaster riding.



Oh, how I wish I could remember his name.

He's the Colonel.

It was obvious he was in charge as the group made their way across our parking lot.

Slovakians like to give gifts. Something else we have in common.



The Colonel presented Will with a Slovakian flag and a thank-you plaque.

(Will gets all the cool gifts. Have you noticed?)

We walked the group down to Thanksgiving for their first ride.

A quick announcement in the station, cheers all around as we Americans welcomed them, and they were off.

And they were back.

What's this?



Shock and awe?

I did notice he didn't join the group that later rode The Raven.



Their wonderful translator told us that Indiana and Slovakia are close to the same size, geographically and by population.

But Slovakia doesn't have any roller coasters.

Not even a single theme park.



They know who Santa is, though.

Fooled again

Another kind mention by The Fool.

Actually, this brings to mind that all sorts of PTB (Powers That Be) from all sorts of parks are planning to be at Holiday World on Sunday, August 27.

The 2006 Golden Ticket Awards will be presented starting at 1:00 pm CDT in our Holiday Theater. If you happen to be in the park that day, you're more than welcome to join us.

Tuxedos and sparkly gowns optional.

A fair way to win tickets

If you're planning to stop by the Indiana State Fair on Friday, you might want to pop on over and talk to the Spencer County Visitors Bureau and find out how to enter their drawing for free Holiday World tickets and two nights in one of the rental RVs at Lake Rudolph Campground & RV Resort.

"Sideways, baby!"

Greg from Carmel, Indiana, sent a rather humbling email following his family's ninth annual visit.

They had a really good time.

I can't say this snippet was my favorite part (he did, after all, praise the HoliBlog), but this was pretty amusing:

Another coworker who visited in July came into my office the day after he returned and told me it was awesome and was most impressed by the fact that it went at a 90 degree angle to the ground.

As he left my office he left with the following words, "Sideways, baby!"

Every time I have seen him since then the first word out of his mouth is, "Sideways!"

Soldiering on

Friday was fun.

The National Guard folks from Camp Atterbury arranged for a group of visiting Slovakian soldiers to enjoy a day of R&R.

When asked what they wanted to do their last day on U.S. soil ... the response was a resounding chorus: "Roller coaster!"

The Evansville Courier & Press came along for the ride.

A promise kept

Andrea Brown is an exceptional writer.

She's also the mother of a pack of red-heads, so what's not to love?

When Andrea told me, back in 2002, that her family was moving west, I wasn't phased at first.

Oh, to the west side of Evansville.

"Uh...no. Colorado."

Colorado?!

We've stayed in touch, though, which is so nice. She always said she thought the folks in Colorado would be interested in Santa Claus, Indiana (they have a little town called North Pole, after all).

Andrea's article ran in the Colorado Springs Gazette and was also picked up by the San Jose Mercury News.

She mentions the Golden Ticket Awards we've won over the years (Friendliest Park, Cleanest Park, etc.). Don't think we've mentioned yet that this year's awards will be announced here at Holiday World on Sunday, August 27.

If you're here in the park on the 27th, by all means head into the Holiday Theater at 1:00 pm CDT and join us as the results are announced.

Might even be slightly entertaining...

A report (and poem) from the "Show Me" State

This sort of post is usually reserved for our What Our Guests Are Saying blog, but since it includes photos and a poem, we'll present it here on the HoliBlog:

Hello Holiday World & Splashin' Safari Staff,

First, I wanted to thank you all for such friendly service. We just returned home from three days in Santa Claus, Indiana, and of course our only reason for the visit was your park. Me and my two kids, my seven-year-old daughter and my ten-year-old son. We also brought my son's friend. The four of us had so much fun I'm sure we'll be back.



My friend recommended this trip and I am so glad we went. The park is designed for easy navigation. The water park was extremely clean as was the dry park. My son and his friend dared the three roller coasters but loved the Voyage best.





My daughter loved the wave pool and the Bahari River. We all loved the food and the free stuff. I think you have the best park in the country. I don't get too excited about theme parks usually however, your park was the best I've ever been to.

We felt comfortable and the amenities are so family oriented from the costs to the service. We never waited more than 15 minutes in line and many times less than 5 minutes. I will definitely recommend this to all my friends and their families. Here are a couple of pictures we took. Feel free to post them.

Keep up the good work and finally here is a poem I wrote about our visit.

Splashin' in Crashin' Waves

Pizza, ice cream, soft drinks
filled our bellies well
rushing off to the wave pool
before the water swells
The laughter in the air
splashed within my ears
smiling as we're dodging
giant white capped dares
My kids can't get enough
Two days of water and sun
Holiday World is where to go
to have great family fun
There's not a better way
to spend a summer day
at the Splashin' Safari
the best water park to play

Sincerely,
Connie J.
DeSoto, Missouri

Birthday pun

This is posted in a Happy 60th thread over at CoasterBuzz.com:

I wonder what they Will Koch up for the next 60 years.

A well-sculpted pun is truly a source of great beauty.

And yet another blogger; this one is quite young

Seven-year-old James (no, not my James, he'll be six for another week and two days) courageously rode The Raven and The Legend when he visited with his folks in June.

He dictated this blog entry to his mom, Julie.

And Julie posted her own review.

A birthday card

Punster Kevin made my day:

Happy 60th Birthday!

What a Voyage it has been. The park is a real Legend in the amusement park world. I just can't stop Raven about you. There are so many parks that Watubee just like you. If I could be at the park today, I would start The Wave in your honor.

You deserve a Pat on the back for all you have become, and I am sure the next 60 Will be even greater.

Three score

We're not quite to Four Score and Seven yet, but a 60th Anniversary is nothing to sneeze at these days.

It was on August 3, 1946, that Santa Claus Land opened in the tiny town of Santa Claus, Indiana.

Louis J. Koch (Will's grandpa) had purchased the land in the 1930s and waited until World War II was over before launching his retirement project. Will's other grandfather, Jim Yellig, was on hand as Santa.

Will's uncle John Long was there. "It was crowded," he remembers of that day. "It was a great day for the family."

And what about Santa's pretty little daughter?

Surely Patty Yellig was there to celebrate the grand opening.

"I honestly don't remember being here," she told a reporter this morning, with a sheepish grin. "After all, I was 15 and probably thought there was something far more exciting going on somewhere else that day."

Mrs. Koch paused from her interview to hug a boy named Jake. He's from Seymour, Indiana, and spent all day yesterday at the library writing a letter to her, complete with photos.

He also slipped her a computer disk. I think she offered him a "computer assistant" job, effective immediately. Mrs. Koch and my husband proudly proclaim each year at our company Christmas party that they plan to be the "last computer illiterates on earth."

It's quite charming that we occasionally receive, out of the blue, scans of wonderful old photos from folks who have been visiting for decades.

Here's one from St. Louis. Brothers Dave and Joe visited Santa Claus several times way-back-when; this photo is circa 1966.



I saw Dave in the park earlier this season. He's still living in St. Louis and he's still got that cute little smile.

Another blogger checks in

Business guy Scot Justice (aka The Virtual CFO) blogged about us recently.

Don't miss the cute photo at the end ... click on it for a larger version.

Good for the soul

...confession, that is.

Will just called me from Evansville.

He just got off the air following a live interview on WTVW's morning news show.

Went well, but he had to tell me something.

"I sort of hinted at what's new for next season."

Oh, Will!

"I couldn't resist; I've signed both contracts, so I went ahead and said we're getting something new for each park."

That's it?!

Gosh, we've even named both ... things ... and he managed to keep that information in the vault.

For spilling the beans, he certainly didn't make much of a mess.

But what do you expect from the oldest son of the Queen of Clean?

Adding to our lexicon

Crazy busy last week.

Spent one day with a crew from the Canadian Travel Channel.

"We'll be oot and aboot the park all day," I told everyone. One ride operator's eyes nearly popped out when I whispered, "They're from Canada. They don't speak English."

That little joke got old very quickly, especially when I fessed up that the crew was a freelance team from Louisville.

The show they're working on is called Uberguide: Extreme Thrill Rides.

Uber.

Not sure we've ever been affiliated with anything with the word "uber" in it.

The show will present 10 of the world's top thrill rides, including coasters from some huge corporate parks, some European parks...

Oh, and The Voyage at Holiday World.

Ubercool.

At one point while shooting general park footage, it hit us no one was doing the usual "Hi, Mom!" thing to the camera.

No jumping in front of the cameraman. No waving wildly or doing that rabbit-ear thingy behind the unsuspecting little brother.

Are we suddenly invisible?

The bubble was broken a moment later; the invisibility cloak lifted.

"Hey, cameraman! Get me!"

"Is this for the news? Awesome!"

"Talk to me! Hi, Mom!"

"Will this be on tonight?"

Rob, the cameraman, told me his stock solution in such circumstances is to loudly command through gritted teeth, "Git!" to the non-camera-shy youth.

I managed to convince him that wouldn't be a good idea here. (He'd done it the day before while shooting footage in a cemetery. Don't ask.)

Rule of thumb: If you want to end up "on camera," act as if you don't see it. The crazy antics are energetic certainly, but they almost always end up on the proverbial cutting-room floor.

Eventually, we headed out of the park proper, to the bottom of The Voyage's second hill for an interview with Will.

Will does a great job in interviews. Especially about his beloved coasters.

He has that engineer's-brain thing going for him, plus a talent for making complicated concepts understandable.

He's good.

Ubergood.

Then came the question about theming.

After explaining that we put our development money into the ride and not so much the theming, Will went on to talk about the decor at The Voyage's station.

"Since we're recreating the pilgrims' storm-tossed voyage across the Atlantic, the station is dockish and wharfish."

Dockish?

Wharfish?

The sky suddenly got prettier, so the crew asked to re-shoot that answer.

Whew! Surely he'll say nautical this time.

Again with the wharfish.

(Perchance I misunderstood. Maybe he was saying "war fish" ... you know, first cousin to the Portuguese Man O' War?)

After the interview had concluded I couldn't contain myself.

"Will ... wharfish?"

He looked surprised.

Wharfish? What are you talking about?

"Wharfish. You said the station was wharfish."

Wharfish? Did I say that? Really? What does that mean?

He laughed.

It's nice to have a good-natured boss.

Ubernice.

Starving for attention

Just received an email from The Hungry Hoosier, a food writer and blogger.

Hoosier, as you may be aware, is the name for Indiana-ans (see why?).

Apparently, Scott and his family didn't go hungry during their recent visit to Holiday World.

So huge, we had to take an aerial photo

Holiday World's own...

...Mt. Plushmore: